Out with the Old
by BellonaBellatrix
Summary: Harry and Ginny face their demons from the past. Can a certain Ravenclaw help them out? HGL
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All character's belong to J.K. Rowling...

Author notes: I've raised the rating accordingly out of safety...so everything should be covered.

Pairings: Harry/Ginny, Harry/Luna, Harry/Ginny/Luna

Prompt: Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.- Albert Einstein

Out with the Old

"Are you absolutely positive this is safe?"

"Yes, Harry. My family has used this method for ages. Look at me. I turned out quite all right," Luna said, holding the vial towards the shafts of moonlight that seemed to hum through the opening of the cave.

Ginny gave him a look. That look that asked 'How did I let you talk me into this'. He responded with his 'As I recall, we didn't do much talking' look that he saved for occasions such as these.

"Erm, actually, I just remembered that Harry and I have a previous engagement. Don't you remember, _dear_?"

"Slipped my mind completely. We're too late for it to be fashionable. Besides, what do we have to lose?"

"If you don't want to do it, I would understand," Luna said, and Ginny winced.

"No, no. This is great. Just great." Ginny looked at her dress robes, fingering the already dirty patches and smears. Harry figured that she was just trying to keep her hands busy.

"Why a cave?" Harry asked. "And uh, why this cave?"

"This is where I used to play as a child," Luna said dreamily. She lowered the vial and Harry saw her figure illuminated against the moonlight. Harry wondered if she ever stopped being a child at all, and it jolted him that she thought of her childhood in the past tense.

He couldn't quite explain why.

The cave had been close to the Lovegoods' old home, and now it made sense that a younger Luna would have wandered here. The light glistened against the stale water and brought forth prisms in odd colors.

"So this will…this will change how we feel about our memories," Ginny said, as if repeating the idea made it true.

Harry inwardly stirred at the hope in her voice.

The nightmares had gotten worse with time, and he had gotten used to it. Every night for the past seven years he had woken up screaming and Ginny would always hold his head tightly to her chest, curling her arms over his head as if to shield him away from an invisible attacker. She would whisper in his ear a mantra of comfort. Only—a few times he had struck out at her while battling his inner demons, and in the mornings—God, in the morning, she had to wear a mauve cream to cover her bruises.

Of course, they kept the truth to themselves as long as they could. It was a personal problem between the two of them. Unfortunately, the eye of the public was ever-present, and his reputed fans had noticed that Ginerva Potter had never worn blush and scarves before. An article was in the Daily Prophet before the week was up.

Then in the eight year of peace for the rest of the world, they had both woken up screaming.

Despite her sharp glares, it was entirely Ginny's fault they were here in the first place. Luna had written to them quite consistently for someone so seemingly dotty. It was a just a chance happening that Ginny decided to write one line of script describing 'sleeping troubles'. And it was just his luck that Luna had a solution to their problem, one that had never let her down.

And here they were.

"Three drops for each of us," Luna proclaimed.

"You mean two drops," Harry corrected, feeling ridiculous with his knees against his chest. He was starting to dislike the way the cave seemed to be shrinking.

"Oh, no. Three, one for you, one for you, and one for me."

"It's our nightmare," he protested. "It's really none of your business-."

"What Harry is trying to say is we've shared this dream for months. And it is personal. If this potion really does allow us to see our dreams and understand the reason behind them, then it's something we have to do together."

"That's the difficulty. Two is not new and hasn't worked very well. I have to be there as an objective observer," Luna said, her eyes seeming to light up at the word 'objective'. He supposed it was a Ravenclaw thing.

"You didn't tell us that before!" Harry exclaimed and had a change of heart about this little arrangement.

"You didn't ask. Anyway, you're not still having dreams about sex, so it's nothing I have seen before."

Harry tried to work that statement out but was distracted by a vial being thrust towards his up-turned face. He bit his lip stubbornly.

"Harry," Ginny whispered, looking resigned. "Please. We've tried everything else."

The liquid in the vial was a pure, unearthly pearl. It almost hurt to look at it.

"I want to know what the hell th-!" Luna tipped the vial and before Harry knew it, a drop had touched his tongue.

And it spread. The sensation from the liquid soon spread to his mouth and poured down his throat. A blinding, throbbing pulse formed against the back of his eyes.

He shouted for Ginny not to drink it, not to touch the damn stuff that was currently trying to push his eyeballs from their sockets. Or he thought he was shouting. Maybe he wasn't.

Was there something to shout about?

He blinked, straightening his glasses. The cave had moved. Well, someone had moved the bloody thing because he certainly was elsewhere. Just where exactly was a bit troubling. His new surroundings were of mist. Just mist. He wondered if his delirium was trying to impress him. If so, it was doing a lousy job.

How unoriginal, he thought.

"Well, you do have to admit it is rather timeless," Luna said from behind him, and he jumped forward only to trip on something. The 'something' turned out to be wooden teeth, a piece of parchment with foreign squiggles on it, and a foul pair of socks. A golden snitch-like bird chattered happily by his head. Yes, chattered.

"Everything that is misplaced ends up here. So it all comes back in the end."

"Uh-huh. And who lost me, then?" Harry scoffed. Several bewildered looking cats trooped by his feet.

"That's funny. I didn't know someone owned you, Harry."

"She'd like to think so. I'm in the doghouse as we speak, Jim," Harry said then choked. "Don't tell me—old jokes get lost here too?"

"Oddly enough, all of the bad ones do."

"Oh, this is original," Ginny said dryly from his left.

"What are you doing here? We can't both be lost. Someone has to do the finding," he pointed out.

"Actually, it's your memories that are lost. The things you've hidden from yourselves over the years. I suspect they want to be found, and that's the reason you're having nightmares."

"…So we're in a giant lost and found box," Ginny muttered.

"One for the entire universe apparently," Harry said, looking around at the clutter, some highly unidentifiable.

"Well, even if we found our memories, I still-we still won't be able to change how we feel about them. That's mad."

"Oh, but you can! Everything is constantly changing. The same memory can get a different result. Something new and delightful out of the old and dreadful. It's a fascinating cornucopia of correlation! Some are distant cousins in relation and there are a few bad apples copulating about in the fruit basket of probability so they care more-"

"If you're doing an advertisement, Luna, don't bother. No one in their right mind would buy your sleeping solution," Harry said wildly, and words and memories began to spill out of his head. Quite literally.

_He was nine and lying in the bushes under the Dursleys' window. A merry jingle came through the window and there was a burst of warm laughter from inside. He curled up into a ball, wishing he could disappear. _

He winced. Ginny stared at him wide-eyed.

Luna smiled. "There, you see."

"I'm not having nightmares over a toothpaste commercial!" he bellowed.

"But you know…it kind of makes sense," Ginny mused, and Harry's jaw dropped.

"How! How does this— any of this— make sense? Unless we're damned to suffer in a very convincing version of hell in a sock drawer."

"I suppose when we see what's been bothering us that we um-laugh at it, kind of like fighting against a boggart…right?" She looked at Luna for approval of the idea.

"Not quite. You have to really feel differently about it. Yet a good dose of laughter is often times the best medicine for the mental malady."

"So what exactly about that memory was funny?" Harry demanded, and the two fell silent. "Yeah, thought so."

"Were you very lonely, Harry?" Luna asked, coming closer to him. He stared down at her, noticing how very small she was. Her bone structure was somewhat sort and delicate, despite the way she intimidated him at times.

"No." Ginny raised an eyebrow skeptically. "It's true. I didn't know there was anything better out there. It was kind of life for me."

"Well," Ginny muttered, smiling at him sadly. "I knew they were terrible people, Harry. Ron told me, you know. About the bars on your window."

"Back then," he said quickly. "It's all right now. There's no reason to dig it up again. The past is the past. Dumbledore said not to dwell on dreams."

"He didn't mean when your dreams are ruining your life, Harry," Ginny argued, her brow furrowing.

"I suppose not. I've always been the exception, huh," he said, laughing away some bitterness. He didn't like pity, and this was the one thing that hadn't changed over the years.

"Of course," Luna said brightly, who was close enough for her chin to touch his chest. "You know first hand that a rule can be broken. That the narrow-minded walk in single file while the broad-minded-"

"I get the picture," Harry responded gently. "I just don't think this is going to work. I'm sorry. I can't do this."

"Can't or won't?" Ginny demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

"I won't!" he exclaimed sharply, crossing his arms across his chest in defiance.

_"That's Mummy's special, widdle boy! Vernon, come here, Duddlekins is saying two words instead of one!" _

_"Takes after his old man. It only took two years, mind."_

There was a stunned silence.

"Two words?" Ginny intoned.

"Two years?" Luna looked thoroughly scandalized.

Harry felt his face flush hotly. "All right, I'll try it. But only if I can call it quits at any time."

"Of course," the girls chorused, and he had the distinct impression he was being manipulated. Somehow, somewhere, this had to count as blackmail. Even in the rubbish bin of the universe.

"You've both seen mine. Now show me yours." After the fact, he thought he could have worded his request a bit better.

"I can do better than that," Luna promised, and suddenly he was back in the rose bushes and finding it hard to breathe. That was possibly due to the fact that Luna Lovegood was straddling his waist. The fortunate thing was that he was no longer nine years old. The unfortunate thing was he hit his head on the window ledge.

"Did that hurt?" she asked.

"Oh, not at all. Just almost had a—wait, it hurt." Harry reached up and felt the window glass. It was slightly cool, and the sweat from his fingers left a pattern on the surface. The roses smelled of freshly laid mulch and the water sprinkles tsked with razor sharp accuracy. Luna was quite real too, and he felt her warmth through his clothes.

"Er, so. What's all…this about?"

"That's what I would like to know," Ginny said, peering over the rose bush. She didn't seem to mind that her dress was in complete taters, allowing her pale skin to show and against the black fabric, he couldn't really stop thinking how nice it would be to touch those places.

"Do you feel any differently? Not as lonely, I imagine."

Harry paused for a moment. Luna was on top of him, her eyes calm and bright. There was Ginny, her red hair coming out of its bun and framing her face in a very distracting way…

"Definitely not as lonely," he confirmed.

"I wonder why," Ginny muttered. "Luna, I'm don't think _that_ is necessary."

"Oh, this is your place on top. I should have known," Luna observed, and Ginny blushed scarlet.

"Y-now, this is absurd. That's my husband you're sitting on!"

"A decidedly-not-as-lonely husband," Luna corrected. "I don't mind trading places."

"What!" The sprinkler tsked and a car drove by, the driver unperturbed by the scene developing in the Dursley's prized lawn.

"I would be under Harry, right here, and Ginny, you would be on top of Harry. I don't want to replace you. I'm only trying to help."

"You've got a funny way of showing it! Come on, Harry, we're leaving." Ginny grabbed him by the collar and pulled him through the rose bushes. The Dursleys had left the pruning up to him, and to his horror, he realized he had been slacking off the job in this memory. Luna toppled off during the struggle and to all appearances looked bewildered by their refusal.

"After I find a door," Ginny hissed, looking around fiercely and resembling a small tiger. She marched towards the Dursleys' doorstep, Harry in tow.

"Uh, Gin, that may not be such a good idea," he sputtered. Ignoring his advice, Ginny pushed open the door, and one of the Dursleys' good coat racks met its untimely end.

"That was absolutely disgusting! The nerve! How could she?" she yelled. Three heads swiveled in their direction.

"Who are you people, and what are you doing-?" Vernon sputtered to a stop, spotting Harry in all his twenty six year old glory.

"Oh, you're just a memory, you bloody idiot, from the sick mind of my husband who was happily letting my good friend seduce him in your fertilizer!" Ginny roared at cowering Dursleys. "So don't even try to pretend you're real. Just continue doing whatever it is you do. There's nothing to see here."

"Out with the old, in with the new," a dreamy voice chirped from outside. Aunt Petunia shrieked and rushed to the china cabinet where she started to build an impressive arsenal consisting of drinking glasses, knives, and sporks.

"Bugger," Ginny hissed.

"Right. Ginny, wand, quickly," Harry whispered out of the side of his mouth.

"I don't have mine."

Uncle Vernon's frighteningly prune face broke into a vicious smile. "What a shame," he growled, clenching his beefy fists. "Come back in time to torment us, huh. Some kind of little mind game."

"The neighbors, Vernon," Aunt Peturnia cautioned. "One of those things is wandering about in the tulips."

"_My_ prized, rare-bulbed tulips…"

Luna popped her head about the arch of the kitchen doorway, the already wilting flowers clutched in her hand.

"Excuse me, but do you have a bit of string? These would make a most wonderful addition to my collection. I've found that these flowers attract Wrackspurts by the dozens. By the way, you have one, there, dozing on your bald spot."

A small distraction occurred as Uncle Vernon started to hit himself in the head, staggering madly about the room as if he were on fire and doing a very good impression of a bull in a china shop.

"Come on," Harry said, grabbing Ginny by the hand and rushing towards Luna. "It's time to go."

"You two are always in such a rush," Luna complained, leaning against the doorway.

"Where's the way out?" Ginny asked. There was a crash from the next room. Aunt Petunia had upturned a vase over his uncle's head, in an effort to rid him of his unwelcome guest.

"You know, I've never thought of a way out," Luna said calmly. "It's funny, the way time flies by."

"Time!" Harry shouted. "You said that place was timeless! So-so-so-." He searched frantically for an answer.

"A clock," Ginny returned, smiling despite the insanity of the situation. "Stop the clock."

Harry had just attacked the antique grandfather clock when Uncle Vernon sprung out of the sitting room with a weapon in hand, his weight traveling impressively around his waist. He brandished the fire poker like a bizarre, bulkier version of a samurai warrior, bellowing at the top of his lungs.

"I"LL PUT YOUR OUT OF YOUR MISERY, YOU ABOMINDATION! I SHOULD HAVE DROWN YOU THE MOMENT THOSE FREAKS ABANDONED YOU HERE!"

"On second thought," Harry said, a haze burning across his mind. "I don't need a wand to deal with you."

"Harry!" Ginny screamed, looking terrified. "Don't you dare-!"

A flying gooseberry pie plate had exploded near her head. Moving faster than he had ever seen her move, Luna pulled Ginny into the kitchen, out of range of the array of dinner utensils.

"Come on!" Harry shouted at his demon of an uncle. The memory of his childhood must have been more potent than he had realized. To his nine-year old mind, his uncle had been a giant, and Harry could not see a single shred of goodness or humanity in his face. He recalled all the times he had been bullied into the cupboard by those large hands, and with every pang of pain and loneliness, the house darkened visibly; his uncle seemed to loom taller.

Spiders started to crawl through the cracks in the wood on the wall, ruining the flowered wall-paper, and he felt them on his face while he slept, while he ate, while he cried.

Harry realized this wasn't the past. Not the real past, just something that lived

inside of him. He had kept this monster alive.

"DAMN YOU!" Harry cried and fear and sweat swelled to a feverish pitch in the house. "DAMN YOU FOR MAKING ME THIS WAY! I WON'T LET YOU BE A PART OF ME! I WON'T!"

Blind, he reached for any weapon within arms length. His hands found something made of glass and massive weight, and not thinking, he threw it at his uncle's contorted face.

Numbers and small, golden hands exploded and broke into a thousand red pieces. He felt a pull, from inside of him. Not in his navel but in his heart, and it was painful. He screamed.

Into the mist. The house had disappeared. His body shook and trembled as if a fever was breaking.

"Ginny, Luna!" he cried. "Oh, please, please, answer me! I didn't want to hurt you!"

Ashamed and feeling so very small, he couldn't hold back his tears any longer. Harry covered his face, hiding within the mist where all the lost things ended up.

"Oh, Harry…"

Lithe arms wrapped around his middle, and a familiar, warm presence pressed into the small of his back. "It's okay. It's all right. I didn't know, I swear I didn't know. I'm so sorry I didn't realize…"

He could never bear the sight of Ginny crying and hugged her. He wanted so much to be apart of her, even though that other side had always been there. It made him afraid he wasn't good enough for her, or anybody. There was something in him that made people, normal people like the Dursleys, want to lock him away. Something that made them so afraid.

"How could I not have known?" Ginny asked him, her voice hoarse. Hateful but only towards herself.

"I didn't let you. If you got close enough, I was…I thought…"

"That's so stupid!" she said but she was smiling. "You know I love you. You. Everything about you."

"I know," Harry said, a small bit of relief flashed through him.

"The nightmares though. The nightmares, they'll be gone, won't they? We did it. We beat this."

"Oh." Luna stood nearby. To Harry's amazement, she looked almost awkward.

"Thank you," he said, and he had never meant the phrase more in his life. "Thank you, Luna."

"But what happened in there?" Ginny asked, looking up at Luna sharply. "Between you and Harry?"

Oh, Harry thought. That explains Luna's discomfort.

"I would like to know to," Harry added.

"Oh that?" Luna asked. "You've been writing to me for quite awhile, Ginny. You said Harry was starting not to care for you."

Harry gave a start. He moved Ginny so they were face to face. "What? You-you thought I-was what, making up nightmares so you would have to leave me?"

"It wasn't just during the night that you were distant from me, Harry. And I never thought you were making them up, not for a single minute. I just thought I wasn't enough to really help you," Ginny said then battled to face Luna again. "But you, you saw an opportunity, you took advantage of our problems to get close to Harry. How could you, you of all people, be so two-faced?"

"If I had two faces," Luna mused. "You would think I'd put both to use."

They stared up at her. Was she admitting she had a plan to drive them apart or denying the accusation? A clutter of newly misplaced items fell into the place, making the pair jump.

Luna tilted her head, her unnerving gaze unusually focused. "Quite the opposite. You wrote that Harry didn't care very much for you. I discovered quite the opposite."

"…You mean you played a trick on us?" Harry sputtered, dumbfounded.

"It takes a clever ruse to sort the truth from the lies."

"I…I don't know what to say," Ginny said. "I said all those things to you and the entire time you were actually trying to help."

"It's all right. Perhaps it wasn't a very nice trick."

"We owe you. A lot. More than you know," Harry said, helping Ginny to her feet. Then, after a pause, he reached out and took Luna's hand, bringing her closer to the two.

"For what?" Luna looked puzzled, her eyes darting between their illuminated faces.

"For helping us sort out our troubles. And the nightmares as well," Ginny said kindly and hugged Luna tightly. Harry put his arms around the two of them. Luna stiffened but then slowly melted into their embrace.

"This is all very pleasurable," Luna whispered into Ginny's shoulder. "But I haven't quite gotten rid of your bad dreams yet."

"What do you mean? Of course you did," Harry said. "I hadn't realized how badly my past with the Dursleys still haunted me."

"Yes, there's that. A very unpleasant memory indeed. But not the trouble-maker of the bunch."

"There's something else?" Harry stepped back, frowning. "I'm not that much of a head case, am I?"

"…There was the war," Ginny said, looking uncomfortable. "Maybe, well, surely you'd have bad memories of that time."

"Come on," Harry said, wandering around the place. Finding a quaint abandoned couch, he sat down, holding his head in his hands once more. "It would take years before I'm over that. We'd be here forever."

"Unless this beastie is not coming from your head case," Luna declared.

"Then where is it coming from?" Harry asked. Luna looked at Ginny.

"That's impossible," Ginny said, laughing and crossing her arms.

"You've both had the same dreams this year. What if they were really the one and the same to begin with?" Luna asked.

"…You're always awake before me," Harry remembered, looking at his wife as if seeing her for the first time. "Always….Because you had woken up screaming before me."

His wife was the strongest person he had ever known. And now he was starting to think he had never thought to comfort her as much as she had comforted him…

She hugged her arms tighter to her chest and her smile remained despite the look of uncertainty in her expression.

"I would have remembered," she said, still laughing.

"Not if you desired—needed to forget." Luna touched Ginny gently, lovingly, on the cheek. Ginny backed away, shaking her head, her red tresses whipping across her features.

"I-this is about Harry. I can't have a problem now, you know. That's-it's not me. It can't be me."

"Gin…" Harry rose to his feet, alarmed at her behavior. "You could have told me. Why on earth did you think you had to tough it out alone?"

_We can't both be lost. Someone has to do the finding. _

His voice echoed through the mists, and Harry's heart seemed to stop. All this time. All this time, Ginny had thought…

Luna listened to the words thoughtfully. "I see what has happened now," she said. Harry couldn't meet her gaze this time. All he could see was his wife who was practically shattering before his very eyes.

"It's a mistake. This was a terrible, terrible mistake," Ginny said, holding her forehead. "It's…it's hurting again. Please, make it stop."

The mists turned again, shifting. Harry felt a change the air. Something familiar. Something he had felt before, except inside of him. Reaching inside of him.

_If death is nothing, Dumbledore, then kill the boy._

His world froze at those soft words. Those empty, soulless, silky words. Endless words.

"Oh my God." He heard someone speak, someone calling for help, any help, and found it was him. How weak his words sounded, helpless and alone. "Not Ginny. Not again."

The room pulsed into blackness. It was almost like a heart beat after being gone for so long. The mists looked…like it forming into a smile. A face. A body.

A sharp hissing sound filled his ears and he turned in time to see Luna sailing in the air, having been pushed by an invisible force. She screamed, and Harry wished, wished, prayed, and looked for a cushion. A couch. This couch, he thought, and hoped, and suddenly the room reacted.

Luna hit a cushion, found just for him, and rolled to the floor unharmed. He raced towards her.

"Luna, you've got to get us out! Right now!"

"I-I'm trying! It won't let me!"

Ginny let out a banshee-like wail that could only come from pain and hate. The hairs on the back of his neck rose, and when he tried to scream, nothing would come out.

His wife's small body had been engulfed by the energy in the room. Her arms were covered in blood as if they had been dipped into a paint can. He could smell it, something old and hidden. Ginny looked at hands idly.

She's going into shock, Harry thought desperately, his heart twisting.

"It's absorbing the magic of this place," Luna whispered. "Her nightmare is actually being reborn."

Harry ran. He ran towards Ginny, the mist reflecting and refracting like a fun house. He couldn't get to her. She looked at him, her lost gaze seeking him out. And she smiled.

_Goodbye, Harry_ she mouthed.

Then the mist swallowed her whole.

They were left in darkness once more.

"Harry, is that you?" Luna touched his forehead. "These are your glasses. Is this your face?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it is," he said numbly, allowing her fingers to trace his scar. "If only it wasn't," he said, his voice threatening to break into hysterics. "I kill everyone who gets close to me."

"I—that's not true. Ginny's not dead!" Her sudden shout made him blink, and his head cleared.

"Well…as good as dead, and I-."

She shoved him. He didn't know which was more surprising: that Luna Lovegood actually shoved him, or that he could feel anything at all.

"Haven't you been listening? Everything changes here."

"Obviously. Judging by what just happened, it works a little too well!" he shouted in her general direction, tears pouring down his face. In the end, he couldn't help Ginny, and he felt like disappearing into nothingness would be a justifiable fate for someone like him.

"…I think we should leave now."

"Excuse me? I will not leave Ginny behind," Harry snapped.

"Neither will I. Shall we go after them?" she inquired firmly. "Or will it just be me, then?"

"…No way in hell are you leaving me out of kicking his arse. Even if it is just a bad dream's arse. One question, though: how?"

"Think about it, Harry. Nothing is more dangerous than what people _want_ to misplace."

The darkness parted instantly at her words. Luna Lovegood stood in front of him. In her hand was a…shriveled Hand of Glory? He pointed at it, his brow furrowed.

"Oh, there are lots of little items like this lying around, just waiting to be used."

"So technically, would using a dark object be frowned upon here since this isn't the real world?"

"I'll pretend if you will," she said, smiling.

"I've never minded a little imagination. Hold on, let me find something." He knelt down and remembered. Dumbledore's office had been ransacked on night during the war, and McGonagall had written to tell him how Godric Gryffindor's sword had disappeared.

Soon, the hilt was in his grip once more. He felt twelve again. A bit naïve, a bit afraid, but hopeful. He was hopeful.

"Your dark object is a bit more impressive than mine is," Luna observed.

"I need someone to light the way. You're perfect for the job, you know. And it's not a dark object. Trust me."

"I do believe in you," she said, her smile becoming somewhat shy. He blinked. He didn't know Luna could be shy. "I really do."

"Don't believe me," he said quickly. "Believe in us. We have to believe in each other to get out of this alive."

"Ginny too?"

"Yeah, Ginny too. Let's go get her."

-Next part up soon!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling

Author notes: This is the final piece of the story.

Luna began to move, her posture bold once more. Actually, when Harry studied her now, he found her posture to be very…very innocent. He got the sense that she was treating this disaster as a great adventure. The darkness fled before the soft light in their wake.

"I'm not exactly sure where to go," she admitted.

"Heh, don't worry. He'll help us out, I'm sure."

Harry looked past the light and saw the wall coming before Luna did. Possibly a good thing since he almost dropped the sword. If Luna dropped her light, there would be no hope for them.

The dark, stone snakes glided over head, their mouths open. Luna gasped as their jaws closed upon a non-existent earth. Soon, stones were beneath their feet. Harry slid the sword up the sleeve of his robe, cradling the sharp point with the palm of his curled hand.

"This looks familiar," he said dryly. "But much too showy, even for you."

"Harry, what's that up ahead?"

"Snake's skin. The Basilisk's skin, to be precise. God, he's making it exactly the same, isn't he?"

Luna stared at the decomposing skin awe. She knelt down and picked up a scale, admiring it. "I wish I could have seen it."

"Er, no, you don't. Moreover, you couldn't have looked at it anyway. Wait—hurry! Move!"

"But-." Luna seemed about to protest but he grabbed her free hand and pulled her along. Just in time. For the ceiling collapsed on itself, every stone falling in the exact same place.

"Bastard," Harry hissed, despising the repetition. "Well, guess what, history's going to repeat itself. I swear it."

Luna remained solemn. "Harry, I have to make an apology. This is entirely my fault."

"No. I'm beginning to think that this has been planned for eight years—or more. That's the entrance up ahead. Like before, just me and him."

"And me," Luna said.

"Luna, there's no phoenix this time around. There's no…there's no Dumbledore. I'm not sure what will happen."

"Ginny said you were stupid sometimes," Luna said, shrugging. "In a good way. But I'm still going with you. Ginny's my friend too. And you won't be helping me by leaving me here. I have…have things he could use against me too, you know. In my past. This place does bring that out in me as well. So I would like to be with the two of you. Actually, I need to be."

Harry paused then nodded. Even now he could sense the shift and sense the child in the dark, making up rhymes in order to understand the world that had taken so much from her. He went to the chamber entrance and hissed slightly. The snakes moved aside and here he was again, in a place no one should have to go.

"Ginny," Luna gasped. Of course, Harry thought darkly, the same position at the Salazar Slytherin's feet. Luna stepped forward, but Harry held her back with his arm.

"She's not dead-yet."

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Harry."

They looked in the shadowy corners of the chamber but saw nothing. Luna held up the light and gave him room.

"So," Harry began, feeling the metal of the blade against his arm. "It's been awhile, Tom."

"Oh, not so very long," the silky voice said. It seemed to slide out of every corner and weave around Harry, and he shuddered at the contact. "You know that you and little Ginny belong to me. In a way, you're my unfinished business."

"Funny, you weren't saying that when you lost. Actually, the other pieces of your soul didn't say that either. Hmmm…"

"Ah, you're feeling bold. As if you have any comprehension of what is transpiring here."

"Another bid for immortality," Harry said. "You're frightfully boring sometimes, you know."

"Your actions speak differently, child. If I were so dull, why did you keep me alive all this time?"

Harry did not understand what Riddle meant. He turned to Luna, but she was staring at him, an expression of disbelief and horror etched across her face.

"What?" Harry asked, bewildered and afraid. "What is it?"

"It's you. The voice—his voice is coming from you. But how? How is this possible?"

"Isn't it obvious, girl?"

"No!" Harry shouted, not sure who was speaking. If he was talking in his mind or speaking, or if the voice was using his mouth. Possessing him again, except for the very vital fact that he didn't sense Voldemort within his being.

"I've destroyed all your Horcruxes. I destroyed the diary! I killed you!"

"That you did, Harry, that you did. I think Dumbledore forgot to tell you something rather important. To simply to forget about me. He didn't, did he? While my soul was destroyed and my vessel ruined, I was never truly gone. Not while I live in you."

He froze. Something rang true about that sentence. Like with the Dursleys. They never truly left him.

"You clung to me, kept some piece of me alive and well, and so did little Miss Potter over there. And thanks to your friend, I have yet another chance to beat death. My memory alone will walk this earth. Ah, Lord Voldemort, perfectly preserved within the Boy-Who-Lived's memory."

"Show yourself. If you aren't a coward, Riddle, you'll face me."

"That's rather hard when I am you, you know. But just for old time's sake."

He appeared as if from a mirror. Tom Riddle, exactly how Harry had remembered him. Pale and dark-featured. Entrancing. And this form of Riddle seemed confident. Did it have a soul with in it, one piece or perhaps the whole of it restored by their collective memory? Did it matter here?

"As you can see, I've made everything exactly the same. With different result at the conclusion of this misadventure, of course, but I did try."

He drew closers, his eyes tracing Harry's features once more.

"I've brought a little something myself," Harry said, and moved his arm quickly. The sword flashed and Harry gripped the hilt. He swung it over his head in a perfect arc and it met its target.

"Still playing with Dumbledore's toys, are we?" Tom inquired, not at all perturbed by the sword embedded in the place where his heart should have been. Harry's eyes widened. "It's time to stop living in dreams, Harry…or rather, time to die in them."

Harry then felt the cold stab of the sword in his shoulder. Somehow, he had struck himself. His nerves screamed as the pain made itself real for the first time and the sword continued to travel downward, guided by an invisible and vengeful hand.

"Quick, Harry, forget about the sword! Clear your mind!" Luna shouted.

It was hard to forget about something that was cutting into you, Harry discovered.

"Harry…" Ginny's voice reached him. She was awake. The pain dissolved but the stinging remained behind.

"I don't know if I am Harry," he whispered, looking at his own blood on his hands. Ginny moved weakly.

"Well, that's the point of this little exercise, isn't it," Ginny said, her face changing. Just behind her features, it seemed like Harry could see Riddle. "For an extension of me, you are embarrassingly slow."

"Extension?" Luna inquired politely. "Excuse me, but I must have misheard you. It's quite understandable that Harry's tense, if that's what you mean."

Riddle laughed, and acknowledged her for the first time. "It doesn't matter what you cal it. I've reasoned it out. Why they can't let go of me. And who might you be, light-bearer?"

"My name is Luna Lovegood," she answered. "And who are you?"

Harry thought that was a very stupid question, considering the circumstances.

"Who am I?" Riddle asked incredulously. "Who am _I_?

"No wonder Harry's so befuddled at times. His daydream doesn't even know its own name," she mused.

"I'm Lord Voldemort, you little fool."

"Harry, your imaginary friend is being terribly rude. And he's a liar."

"Well, on occasion," Riddle answered, but Harry heard a twinge of panic under his tone. He had taken shape once more and now approached Luna. She stared up at him, his tall form overshadowing her. "I've also been known to tell the most terrible truths as well."

"Me too," she said politely. "But you've already lied about who you are, so I won't trust you one wit. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is quite dead and in the past."

"For the moment. That's about to change. Haven't you been paying attention?"

"Not really. You do tend to go on a bit," Luna admitted. Harry saw that her hands were shaking and she was unreasonably pale, but Riddle missed her anxiety at his nearness.

Tom Riddle frowned, clearly confused by this unexpected response.

"Your two friends are going to die, and in the process, bring me back to life this time around. I, Lord Voldemort, shall return to the real world, whole and powerful. Understand now?"

"Who says this isn't the real world?" Luna demanded, sounding offended. Riddle was thrown for a loop, and Harry was right there with him.

"Er, Luna, this isn't-," Ginny began weakly.

"Be quiet," Riddle snapped at her then turned to Luna. "Don't play games with me, girl. You know as well as I do that this world is based entirely on perception."

"As is the real world," Luna chirped, smiling up at the Dark Lord cheerfully.

"With those pesky things called laws and rules of existence."

"Ah, there are rules here too, you know. Like, for instance, if Harry and Ginny were to forget about you completely, you would cease to exist. That's a good rule, isn't it?"

"It's not that simple, dolt."

"Explain, please."

"I most certainly will not."

"Then, if you will not go into detail, all is not lost," Luna claimed. "That's why there is still hope for them to trounce you properly."

"What?!" Tom Riddle shouted, throwing his hands up in frustration. "That's not why!"

"Is to," Luna chirped.

"It isn't," Riddle hissed.

"Then explain yourself, bad sir," Luna sang out, startling her verbal opponent. Riddle considered.

"If you insist. I'm far too deep within their hearts now. It is not a simple game of forget- me-not."

"Or forgive and forget?" Luna inquired. He paused.

Harry lifted his head, listening closely.

"Forgiveness? You are an idiot, then," Tom snarled.

"Ginny," Harry whispered fiercely. "Ginny."

"I heard," she said quietly. Her face was deathly pale, but her strong dark eyes flashed. "You bet I did. What do you say, Harry? Can we put the past behind us? I don't know if I can, really. I've hated him for so long."

"I…I hated Snape more, I think," Harry said, watching Riddle's back. Soon, Luna would lose his attention. "I used to, anyway. But like you said, this makes sense."

Ginny reached for his hand and took it soothingly. The pain was still there but it wasn't quite so bad. "I'd forgive anyone for you. I don't know if I'll really mean it, though. In my heart."

"What have we got to lose?" Harry asked. "We've tried everything else, haven't we?"

Together, they stood. Riddle turned around quickly, his eyes narrowing. Ginny squeezed Harry's hand tightly, as if both giving and gaining strength.

"You," Harry said. "It was our hatred that kept you with us. I'm right, aren't I?"

"…You are," Tom said, softly. "And I've thrived on it. I see what you're doing. Know that you can never stop hating me. Not after I do this."

He seized Luna. Ginny cried out.

"Ah, there's the reaction I was looking for. Your little light-bearer. What if I were to snap her neck? You know it would mean nothing to me, and everything to you."

Luna stared at them, wide-eyed and afraid. "That's all right. It is my fault, really" she whispered, sounding sincere but very sad.

Harry stood there, torn and feeling incredibly helpless. Riddle had them at an impasse.

"I-erm, have something to say," Harry announced, and for a surreal moment, everyone in the room looked at him as if he had sprouted an extra head on his shoulders.

"It's not Luna's fault. It's not Ginny's fault. It's mine. He's my problem. Let's make a deal, Tom."

"You're in no position to bargain. You have nothing that I want any more."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I was going to say…I was going to let you have my body. You can possess me. Think of it, the world would fall at your feet. And no one would be the wiser."

"An interesting barter. I would have to remove your soul first. Yes, that would be. I would store it in a trinket for all eternity. A perfect end to your tale, Harry. You would never be at peace. You will suffer as I have."

"Fair enough."

"Harry, what are you saying?!"

"And what of these two?" Tom inquired, caressing Luna's cheek with his finger. She flinched slightly. "They could propose a problem, no?"

"You take them with you. You get them out of here in one piece."

"And I keep them for myself?" Tom raised an eyebrow, mocking him. To his surprise, Harry nodded again.

"Um, ex-," Luna started to say.

"If you must. If that's what keeps them alive. You can't hurt them, that's part of the deal. Not mentally, not physically. "

Ginny looked well beyond the point of anger. "I'd rather die!" she screamed.

"It's the only way I can protect you two," Harry explained. "I love you. The both of you."

Luna's face whitened in shock. "Did you hear that?" she asked Riddle. "Did you hear what I heard?"

"If you're referring to a most disappointing display of weakness, then yes."

"So what's your answer?" Harry demanded.

"No deal," Riddle said. His smile was like a knife. "That was most entertaining, Harry, and I did so wonder how far you would go to save them. Alas, it was all for nothing."

"Who's speaking?" Ginny asked, the desperation clear in her face. "Did you hear something, Harry?"

"…Someone was speaking, Gin," Harry proclaimed, having one last idea. "A Crumpled-Horned Snorkack."

Luna gasped loudly. "Where?" she begged, and her tone convinced Riddle that they were all quite serious. And quite seriously mad.

"What are you going on about?" he demanded, his grip tightening on his captive.

"Of course, in the last place I would look, oh, that's the first place I would find it!" Luna sang out in excitement, and Riddle looked as if he had discovered he had grabbed a Muggle time-bomb.

"I see it!" Ginny yelled, jumping up and down and pointing. "There, it is. There they are, a whole herd! They're speckled and freckled and yet slightly bald."

"They are not!" Luna yelled back, struggling against Riddle.

"Well, I see them too. They are slightly bald," Harry confirmed. "Make that entirely bald."

"No!" Luna protested. "They have hair. They go north for the winter. How could they be bald and go to the north pole?! Tell them," she said, whirling on Riddle. "Tell them that Snorkacks have a fur coat! And a crumpled-horn!"

Tom Riddle sputtered in confusion. "What is this madness?!" he shouted. "Have I driven you all mad from fear?!"

"If I'm mad, then you're mad! You're in my head, after all," Ginny pointed out.

"Too right you are," Harry said. "This is group hypnosis. Or something. Perhaps we're all mad and actually in this little tiny box. Didn't they call you mad once, Tom?"

Riddle paled.

"How does one know if they are mad?" Luna mused thoughtfully.

"You don't," Harry said. "A crazy person wouldn't know they were crazy. Tom knows all about that, though. He's a real expert."

"But then how does Tom know this is actually happening?" Ginny wondered. "We really could be extensions of him, technically. Just only in his head and all."

"Well, it is quite possible," Luna said, looking very disturbed. If they made it, Harry would explain all this to Luna later, but right now, he had to go with it.

"Yeah, really, you know," Harry began, moving towards Riddle steadily. "You thought they were going to take you away once. What if they did? What if Dumbledore was just a delusion?"

"No," Riddle said, his face contorting in rage. "I could perform magic. I could make people do everything I wanted them to do!"

"So you thought," Ginny replied, but her eyes had a new look in them--one of great sorrow. "We can all trick ourselves sometimes."

"That's a lie. I know you inside out. I know every secret you've ever shared with me," Riddle said.

"You would if you made me up, Tom."

He froze, seeming unsure and suddenly very young. "I can always tell when I'm being lied to."

"I could to, if I knew the lies ahead of time," Harry argued. "After all, I've created a whole world. Maybe that's what this little exercise is trying to tell you. We, your figments, are out of our bodies, but in this very real feeling world. Maybe that's what you've done this with the Wizarding World. You can't really exist without a soul, can you? Think about it."

"I…that can't be. It just can't be."

"You're not sure, are you? Come on. You had to be so special that you actually made up an entire world to be special in. It's time to wake up, Riddle. Go away. You're not wanted here any longer."

Tom's figure shimmered for a moment and slowly faded away. His confusion and lost expression did not fade until the last.

"Oh my God," Ginny whispered.

"I know," Harry choked out. His insides twisted and he felt like a monster. Somehow, he had become the very thing he had fought against. "I know. We have to leave. Before he comes back."

"He won't," Luna said, looking at the place where Riddle had disappeared. "I don't think he would even if he could."

"It's over," Ginny said, pushing her hair out of her eyes and seeming to slump, the energy supporting her fading away. "It's finally over."

The chamber dissolved into the plain stone of a familiar cave. Harry sat up, his hair sticking straight up in the air. He had never been happier to be covered in dirt.

"Is everyone all right?"

"Yes," Luna answered breathlessly. "That was the most fascinating dream I have ever had."

"Really?" Ginny asked, rubbing her neck.

"Until tonight," Luna said happily. "Did you remember to forgive and forget?"

"Forget what?" Harry asked, shaking his head.

"It will always hurt," Ginny whispered. The sunlight streamed through the opening of the cave, illuminating her face and making her eyes shimmer slightly. "But—yeah. I think so."

"…Yeah. But it does not do to dwell on dreams," Harry recalled. "What are we going to do now? That's what I want to know."

"I suppose you two will be leaving soon," Luna said. Ginny met Harry's gaze and smiled.

"You know, we could always spare a few more days," Harry said. He saw that Luna's hand were twisting together, wringing the edge of her robes.

"You don't have to stay, you know," she muttered.

"We want to stay," Ginny said and drew the startled girl into an embrace. Harry put his arms around them both.

He had a feeling his life was about to change. But this time, there were no ghosts haunting them.

This time, it was a change for the better.

&&&

Thank you for reading. Please tell me what you think :)


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